The league is contingent on Penn State adding hockey, because with the Nittany Lions, six schools who participate in Big Ten athletics in other sports would have hockey. This is the minimum number required to have a conference and earn an automatic NCAA tournament bid. Penn State’s announcement of adding hockey could come as early as Wednesday, reports say.

Losing the Golden Gophers and Badgers would be big losses for the WCHA, but in a report in the St. Cloud Times, Gopher coach Don Lucia was quoted as saying Minnesota would still be interested in scheduling long time opponents like St. Cloud State even if the Gophers were to jump to the Big Ten.